A language tool, explained

Translate,
explained.

How to use the tool, what happens to your text, and what the API returns.

01 / USE

From a thought to another language.

01
Choose the source.
Pick a language, or leave Detect language selected. Detection asks you to choose manually if it cannot identify the language.
02
Choose the destination.
Pick the language you want to read. Use the swap button after detection or translation to reverse the direction.
03
Translate.
Enter text and select Translate. On a keyboard, press Ctrl or Command plus Enter.

Use Copy text for the result. Copy share link copies a link that contains your original text and language choices.

02 / LANGUAGES

45 languages for text.

The source and target menus use the same list. Automatic detection is a source option, not a target language. These codes also work in the API.

Google Translate handles the listed codes through the Worker. Northern Sotho, Swati, Venda, Tsonga, and South Ndebele are now choices. This is language access, not a quality guarantee. Choose the source yourself when detection confuses short or related-language text.

Englishen
Afrikaansaf
Zuluzu
Xhosaxh
South Ndebelenr
Northern Sothonso
Swatiss
Southern Sothost
Setswanatn
Tsongats
Vendave
Amharicam
Hausaha
Igboig
Kinyarwandarw
Lingalaln
Lugandalg
Malagasymg
Nyanjany
Oromoom
Shonasn
Somaliso
Swahilisw
Wolofwo
Yorubayo
Arabicar
Bengalibn
Chinesezh
Frenchfr
Germande
Hindihi
Italianit
Japaneseja
Koreanko
Malayms
Marathimr
Persianfa
Portuguesept
Russianru
Spanishes
Tagalogtl
Thaith
Turkishtr
Urduur
Vietnamesevi

Malay (ms) does not include Indonesian (id). South Ndebele (nr) is distinct from Northern Ndebele. Wolof returned text in our RPC checks but is not listed in Google Cloud Translation's language list. Regional varieties and writing systems still need review.

03 / YOUR TEXT

Know where the words go.

BrowserTranslate WorkerGoogle TranslateResult

The page sends text to Google Translate through this Worker for detection and translation. An optional OpenAI route is available only when the Worker has an OpenAI key. Translate does not keep a server-side translation history. Its API responses ask browsers and intermediaries not to cache them.

Shared links include the original text.

The text sits in the URL query string. Anyone with the link can read it, and the URL may appear in browser history. Share only text you are comfortable putting in a link.

Select Listen only when you want to send that text to Google for speech. The spoken text appears in the request URL.

04 / PROVIDERS AND SPEECH

One default route, one optional route.

Task	Provider	Coverage
Text and detection	Google Translate web RPC	Default for the page and API
Optional API text	GPT-5 nano	`engine=openai` when an OpenAI key is configured
Speech	Google Translate speech	English, French, and Spanish

The Google web endpoints are unofficial and can change or restrict requests. The Listen button is unavailable for languages without speech support. If the source and target match, Translate returns the input without a provider call.

05 / API

Use the same path as the page.

Send a GET query, a form POST, or a JSON POST to /api/translate/. Omit from or set it to auto to detect the source.

JSON request

POST /api/translate/
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "text": "Hello",
  "from": "en",
  "to": "es"
}

Response

{
  "translated-text": "Hola",
  "source": "en",
  "target": "es",
  "engine": "google"
}

Route	Returns
`GET /api/source_languages/`	Names and codes, including `auto`
`GET /api/target_languages/`	Names and codes, without `auto`
`GET /api/capabilities/`	Detection and speech support
`GET /api/health/`	Default provider and optional OpenAI availability
`GET /api/tts/?text=Hello&lang=en`	Audio for supported languages

Omit engine or set it to google for the default. The old cloudflare value remains an alias. If Google interprets an explicitly selected language as a different supported language, the response also has provider_source. Errors include error and message; upstream failures return 503.

06 / LIMITS

Where to use judgment.

Short, ambiguous, and mixed-language text can confuse detection. Google read a Swati example as Zulu even with Swati selected; the page shows a note when that happens. Translation quality varies by language and sentence. Our comparison found errors for Igbo, Luganda, Wolof, and colloquial Zulu. Native-speaker review remains open.

The Google web RPC and speech endpoint have no stability promise. If a provider fails, Translate reports the failure instead of substituting a different translation. The optional OpenAI path retains a small Zulu glossary, but the Google RPC has no glossary control.

Libre is disabled while its Cloudflare-native version is being built. Speech currently covers English, French, and Spanish.

Open Translate

Translate,explained.

From a thought to another language.

Choose the source.

Choose the destination.